Guentzel back in WCHA as Neb.-Omaha assistant coach

Mike Guentzel is coming back to Mariucci Arena. Except he will be on the visitors' bench when Nebraska-Omaha and the Gophers open WCHA play on Oct. 15-16.

Guentzel, according to an Omaha newspaper, will join the Nebraska-Omaha coaching staff as one of Dean Blais' two assistants. Ironically, Blais' other assistant is Mike Hastings, who succeeded Guentzel at Minnesota but stayed only one season.

After 14 seasons on the Gophers staff, Guentzel resigned from Don Lucia's staff in April of 2008, saying he wanted to be a head coach. Several sources close to the situation say he was actually forced out by Lucia.

Guentzel was an assistant coach at Colorado College in 2008-09 and the head coach at Des Moines of the USHL last season.

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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow @RomanStrib on Twitter. E-mail Roman.